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Mine would be Sniper Elite 4. I hadn't played any of the previous titles, but have always loved sniping in FPS/TPS games. The large, semi-open levels and slow pace really clicked with me in ways no other shooter has for a long time. Spending 1-2 hours slowly picking off guards in a level was a ton of fun, I am still terrible at playing on more realistic difficulty levels but I got a ton of enjoyment out of the game. Also big props for them releasing 3 more maps for free, considering how DLC crazy the industry is I am happy some companies are still willing to give out content they could have totally justified charging for.

Also still need to get that Hitler nut shot.....

Honorable Mentions:

Heat Signature

Total War Warhammer 2

Here is a list of what came out this year (I assume its missing a ton of Indie games):

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My true true Game of the Year would probably be Hollow Knight, a beautiful indie title developed by Team Cherry. Hollow Knight is a ridiculously hard metroidvania game, but with the world building and respawn system of a SoulsBorne game. Essentially, you, the titular "Hollow Knight" are dropped into this strange and massive underground kingdom that once was ruled by insects, but has mysteriously fallen, and is now haunted by the husks of its former inhabitants.

The game itself is exactly what you want from a metroidvania. Sprawling rooms and passages, backtracking several times over whenever you find a new movement power, plenty of collectibles and optional upgrades and bosses... Just thinking about it makes me wish I hadn't 100%ed it so I could go through and experience the feeling of discovery again for the first time.

To be perfectly fair, though, this game isn't for anyone. If you hate having to comb over every inch to find the one thing that you're missing, or if you don't like having to retry bosses over and over again because they're so dang hard, then you might not be as big a fan of this game as I was, and that's cool. But I would strongly recommend checking it out if you haven't already.

My second GOTY, and the reason this wasn't my proper GOTY (besides Hollow Knight's existence) is because it technically came out last year, would be Persona 5. Hot. Damn. I was waiting for that game for at least three years before it finally came out, and boy did it deliver. There's not a whole lot more to say about it, and this post is already wicked long, but DAMN that game is good.

Honorables:

Tooth and Tail

Horizon Zero Dawn

Mass Effect: Andromeda

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild

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It is literally impossible for me to pick a GOTY. There are too many games that are some of my favorites of all time, let alone this year. Prey, Dishonored 2: Death of the Outsider, Tacoma, Wolfenstein II, plus a bunch I'm sure will be up there when I play them some day, like A Night in the Woods, What Remains of Edith Finch, Assassin's Creed: Tangerines, and Pyre. So yeah, there's no way I can choose.

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2017 really has been an incredible year (in games, if not the world). I'm "only" 40 hours in, but Zelda: BoTW is my GOTY for so easily blowing every other open-world (and Zelda) game out of the water. It's so charming and understated, the perfect mix of human-authored and systems-driven. I feel like spreading the enjoyment out over the next few years, jumping in for a month or two at a time.

Looking back I'm surprised that nearly all my favs were on Switch, including some older games that were new to me. While I end up getting into most major consoles eventually, often that's years after release. This is the first I've ever owned from day one and it's been brilliant.

GOTY runners-up:

PUBG

SteamWorld Dig 2

Stardew Valley

Honorable mentions:

Super Mario Odyssey

Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle

Golf Story

Thumper

Sniper Elite 4

Most wanted:

Horizon Zero Dawn

Dishonored 2

Hollow Knight

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Also big props for them releasing 3 more maps for free, considering how DLC crazy the industry is I am happy some companies are still willing to give out content they could have totally justified charging for.

Not to get off topic, but I'm not quite sure what you mean here. If you're referring to the Deathstorm campaign, they seem to be charging ~$30 (for the season pass or just the three individual missions).

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Not to get off topic, but I'm not quite sure what you mean here. If you're referring to the Deathstorm campaign, they seem to be charging ~$30 (for the season pass or just the three individual missions).

I've talked about What Remains of Edith Finch in another thread, and it's oddly Breath of the Wild that needs more explanation. I haven't traditionally been the biggest fan of Nintendo - I don't have a problem with Nintendo games by any means, but I haven't personally owned a non-handheld Nintendo console since the SNES. The praise for BotW was so effusive that I borrowed a friend's Wii U to try it out for myself, and boy was I not disappointed.

I can't remember the last time I enjoyed exploring a world so much, getting into weird little scrapes and seeing the bizarre, janky physics and systems interactions that I would normally never associate with Nintendo. I was also very impressed with the subtlety and restraint with which the story was told, and gathering the memories of Zelda genuinely led to meaningful character moments. The themes of the world in terms of narrative, art design and musical composition were melancholy and wonderful in equal measure. I honestly didn't expect to be as impressed with the game as I was, and I was very glad to be proven wrong.

A couple caveats about other entries on the list; For Honor is only as high as it is because I had a dedicated group of friends that I was playing it with a lot around launch, and Shadow of War is only as high as it is because I skipped the last act and watched the ending on YouTube.

Finally, there are two games I haven't put enough time into yet, but could potentially make their way on:
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
Wolfenstein 2: The New Colossus

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I may have to update the list when I remember what games I actually played this year.

1. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (by far)

2. Super Mario Odyssey

3. What Remains of Edith Finch?

4. Splatoon 2

5. Wolfenstein 2

I'm still planning but yet to play Assassin's Creed Origins and SteamWorld Dig 2.

Other games of 2017:

I was quite excited about Tacoma and liked it quite a bit, but finally it didn't leave nearly as lasting an impression on me as Gone Home. Night in the Woods was very interesting but also way too long and the movement did not feel great. Horizon Zero Dawn was quite fun for a bit, but somehow I felt that the game did not focus on its strengths: there was way too much combat against humans, and traversing the world felt pretty dull (at least when compared to Breath of the WIld, which was released shortly after Horizon). I didn't enjoy the combat in Nier: Automata very much and really disliked the repetitive elements, plus I wasn't nearly as blown away by the story as many people seemed to be. Thimbleweed Park had quite good puzzle design but the writing ruined the experience for me.

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I was quite excited about Tacoma and liked it quite a bit, but finally it didn't leave nearly as lasting an impression on me as Gone Home.

The same must be true for me because I totally failed to put it in my list, despite actually quite enjoying it. It wasn't as meaningful to me as Gone Home, but I was definitely engaged while playing it. If I were to revise my list I might swap it in for Shadow of War, which was fun to screw around with but since neither the story nor the endgame was compelling it was almost more of a toy to me than anything else. I would probably keep Hellblade at #10 because I feel I want to recognise the game that at least tried to say something about mental illness and used excellent performances to do so, despite the fact that actually playing that game was not particularly great.

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I think I've barely played any games released in 2017, but for what I have played, the standout would be Resident Evil 7, which was just a phenomenal re-invention for the series. After years of moving further and further into being rather bad, generic action games, 7 was tense, well paced and played with genre conventions in a way that previous REs haven't.

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I just finished writing up a post about my media log of 2017 (yeah I keep a log), but fuck naming my GOTY is still hard.

I think it's a toss-up between Prey, Horizon Zero Dawn and Hellblade.

Prey made me realize the immersive sim is my favorite genre and that I need to make a game like that. HZD is just beautiful and lush and interesting and Dutch, and the politics are so well-nuanced. And Hellblade gave me hope that the AA space will grow and accommodate all the great narrative experiences I crave, and also it's damn spooky and intense.

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I liked Uurnog a lot. It was whimsical, took about 9 hours for me to complete, and the puzzles were so loose that I often felt like I was cheating. I don't tend to enjoy metrodvanias or puzzles, but Uurnog didn't seem like it cared much for them either so it was perfect for me.

Myself, I only played one game released in 2017 due to a busy schedule. That game was West of Loathing, and it's worthy of a mention here. Mostly because it's hilarious, but the stick-figure art had a certain charm as well. Also if you're not playing with "stupid walking" set to "on" you're playing it wrong.

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Hollow Knight is GOTY for me easily. I find it really hard to describe why I love the game so much other than just listing off the features I appreciate, which are its visuals, music, general lore, and gameplay (aka the entire game I guess.) It's something I never realized I needed until it actually came out.

It's harder to say after that. Maybe Cuphead or Divinity: OS2. Both of those grabbed me in different ways.

Night in the Woods (A game I like, but have not finished and has not captivated me like many others)

Zelda (The excellent characters and story of Horizon, a wildly similar game, combined with not playing Zelda at launch to ride the wave of the zeitgeist really has me feeling like I missed something other people are slam dunking as GOTY)

Haven't played, want to (or won't):

Nier: The gameplay drives me away from a story that attracts me. Eagerly awaiting spoiler discussions

I haven't finished Yakuza 0 and I want to go back to dragon grandpa 3, but this year was a mix of 2015 & 2016 for me where I was totally surprised by things I didn't know I'd like or try going into the year and underwhelmed by things I looked forward to.

In 2015, I was blindsided by how much I loved Dropsy, and in 2016, I had lots of games that I wanted to love but only ended up liking.

1. I bought a Vita this year specifically because it is where lots of otome games get localized in english, and it has provided me with 2 straight bangers (Collar X Malice & Norn9) and 1 very good game (Code:Realize). I was really charmed and captivated by Collar X Malice and wish more otome games made it to America. This is a game that I didn't know about coming into the year and was totally bowled over by how much I loved it

2. Yakuza 0 constantly makes me laugh and the combat makes me feel like a total badass. It's very fun to play and all the side stories are amazing. Majima & Kiryu are both people I love spending time with.

3. Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns is fantastic and I love it. It's the second entry in the Story of Seasons series and continues to shave off the parts of Harvest Moon that had worn out their welcome (the mine & combat), giving extra structure and direction with the use of errands to earn extra money and gain affection with townspeople, and added more cute interactions with neighbors like sharing meals. It's added incentives to cooking (food buffs), and the greatest bachelor in the history of video games: Woofio

Harvest moon is a series I've probably put 500+ hours into over various iterations. This feels like an earned entry and step forward in the franchise. The in game graphics are kind of goofy looking, but the character portrait art is super cute, and is a good portion of why I prefer this series to Stardew.

4. Night in the Woods - I really liked this game. It was one I came into 2017 excited about and it didn't let me down. Crushingly honest and funny and sad and bleak. Beatrice is the cool goth we always wanted to be or be friends with. I love her.

5. I know that there are lot of people underwhelmed by Pocket Camp, but it's totally my jam. I love my demanding animal friends, and I love having a bigger variety of friends to talk to each day. My biggest annoyance with the main series is having no control over who your neighbors are. I can't evict the horrifying coconut rabbit Coco from my town in New Leaf and it haunts me to this day. Plus my favorite boy Roald the penguin is in it.

Coco for reference -

Other games I played this year: persona 5 (liked, but didn't love. Makoto is my favorite character in a game this year, but there was enough here i didn't like very much that it doesn't make the cut), what remains of edith finch (this was good, i just liked other stuff more), and a bunch of otome visual novels that didn't come out this year that could fill my whole top 5 if they had.

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For me it is Prey. A lot of good games this year, but nothing in my mind comes close to it. I've waited so many years to play something that feels like a proper spiritual successor to System Shock, and I'm so grateful that Arkane made something this wonderful.